Dear Arkansas, Thank you for treating us so well. You have been so familiar and cozy. You have been just the exact amount of refreshment that I needed. Thank you for so many precious reminders of familiar faces and some of our favorite places. You will always remain special to us. So here we are again at the end of another chapter. The pages seem to be turning so quickly these days. This week will mark the ending of our time here in Arkansas. I am so grateful for the opportunity to come back “home” and re-experience so many things. It has been such a joy to experience simple things like lunch with a friend, dinner at my grandparents’ house, attending church with family, and not needing to use a GPS at every turn. After being away for several years, it has been nice to have these reminders of what it is like to live around things so familiar. It is definitely bittersweet to leave. Thanks for the memories, Arkansas. This past month has been filled with lots of travel for Ben. He has been to Bali, Japan, and Seattle. Dallas awaits him this week and he couldn’t be happier. This guy loves the world of business travel. I’m thankful that he is able to pursue his career goals without compromise as I also pursue mine. Our careers are equally important to both of us and I am very grateful for the balance that we have been able to achieve during this season. I’m also grateful that Ben has decided to join me on this journey; that he places just as much importance on my career as he does his own. I’m glad we are on the same team. Not mine. Not his. Ours. The past few weeks have also included priceless encounters with friends that we have not seen in a while, as well as several birthday celebrations. The month of April kicked off with a birthday celebration for my Mom at the horse races. We enjoyed a day of watching the ponies, then eating great seafood. Ben and I also had the privilege of celebrating the birthday of one of my favorite college friends, Amanda. It was a treat getting to celebrate her. We enjoyed surprising our niece, Eleanore by attending her surprise birthday party and also celebrated my Dad’s retirement from UPS at his company party. And this was all just the first week of April…whew! We spent the next weekend with some of our forever friends by visiting their hometown of Bentonville. We had a great time exploring their town, visiting the wildlife safari, eating good food, and enjoying good conversation. Oh, how we have missed them! On April 10, we participated in our first Passover meal with Ben’s sister Rebekah and her husband Jamie. It was a treat to get a front row seat to this Jewish tradition. The next weekend, my forever friend Natalie came to visit and spend Easter weekend in Arkansas. It was a fun weekend of brunching, getting our nails done, and catching up on life. Our weekend ended with an Easter lunch and lots of hugs. That next week, I celebrated my best friend/roommate/sister wife, Jessica’s birthday. We met her parents at the Flying Fish in Downtown Little Rock for some epic seafood and then took a walk around the river. I’m so thankful I could celebrate with her this year and I am so thankful that we have gotten to live with her for the past five months. Not only did we all survive, but we thrived! I have enjoyed seeing her everyday and getting to spend loads of priceless time together. Her friendship means so much. The month of April ended with a surprise 50th birthday for my beautiful step-mother, Sonya. After spending a day getting pampered at a salon and spa, she came back home to a house full of people, great food, and some awesome presents. It was so fun to celebrate this special birthday with her! The month of May has brought just as many birthday celebrations as April. We kicked off the month by celebrating my step-dad, Terry’s birthday by surprising him with an afternoon at a Trampoline Park, dinner at a steakhouse, then a night of bowling. Needless to say, I was a bit sore the next day. Haha! I also recently enjoyed dinner with my childhood best friend, Heather. I had not seen her since my wedding, so it was such a sweet time of catching up with her over dinner. I spent Mother’s Day weekend completing my open water scuba certification. Ben and I are now both officially certified and are ready to get in some awesome west coast dives this summer. We also celebrated Ben’s 29th birthday with family at a local pizza place over the weekend. He will be traveling on his birthday later this week, so I am glad we could get an early celebration in with everyone. We will wrap up this week with Ben in Dallas, me finishing my last week of my contract with WCSD, then celebrating Mallori’s accomplishments in nursing school with her pinning ceremony Friday evening. Then just like that, Arkansas is a wrap. So what’s next? So glad you asked ;) Ben works remotely for a company that is based out of Seattle. His boss asked him earlier in the year if he would like to work from corporate for a few months. Once again, the Lord has been faithful to us and has continued to create a way for us to bridge reality and our dreams. Last month I accepted a home health position in the Seattle area and I am set to begin next week. Tuesday, to be exact- so we will be experiencing a record speed road trip to the west coast. I would appreciate your prayers for safe travels and for a smooth adjustment once we arrive. We will be living out of a backyard studio for the first week while our rental apartment is being prepared. We have rented a precious studio apartment in the heart of the city just a mile from Ben’s office. It is 420 quaint square feet and comes fully furnished. Ben will walk to work each day and I will drive out of the city into the suburbs and portions of rural Washington to see my patients. I am really excited about the opportunity to be in the heart of a city again, and I am equally as excited about working in home health. It is my favorite setting and one that I have hoped to work in again for some time. Ben has been to Seattle several times and would move there tomorrow if he could. I have never been. So once again, here we go; Out into the unknown and unfamiliar, but equally as exciting. It is so bittersweet to leave Arkansas again. But if I’m honest, I’ve known all along that I could never stay. There’s something about when a person leaves one place and journeys to another. It stays relatively the same, but the person changes. And for us, our hearts are someplace else. Arkansas will always hold a special place, THE special place in our hearts. We value so many things that are here. But adventure is calling, and we must go. Thanks for letting me share our dreams with you. I have so much love for you all.
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